trick.

"Not so loud if you please, monsieur."

"Not so--but where the devil are you, anyhow?" He had looked in every
direction except the right one.

"Here," whispered Fouchette. "Up in the tree."

"Tonnerre! And what are you doing up there in the tree, mademoiselle?"
he inquired with astonishment, elevating his lantern so as to get a
glimpse of the owner of the voice.

"Nothing," said Fouchette.

"Well, if this don't--say, mademoiselle."

"Please don't talk so loud, monsieur. They will hear you, and I will
be lost."

"Indeed! So you're running away, eh?"

"Yes, monsieur."

"What for?"

"Because they are going to give me the douche, the paddle, and
prison."

"The wretches!" whispered the young man through his half-set teeth.

"Then you'll help me, monsieur?" asked Fouchette, in a tone of
entreaty.

"That I will," said he, promptly, "if I can. If you could swing
yourself over the wall, now; but, dame! no girl can do that," he added
half to himself.

"I'll try it," said Fouchette.

"Don't do it, mademoiselle; you'll break your neck."

For answer to this, Fouchette, who had been working her dangerous way
out on the uncertain branches, holding tenaciously to those above, so
as to wisely distribute her weight, only said,--

"Look out, now!"

There was no time to parley,--it was her only hope,--and if she fell
inside the wall----

A splash among the leaves and a violent reversal of branches relieved
of her weight and--and a ripping sound.

"Oh, mon Dieu!" she gasped.

She had swung clear, but her skirts had caught the iron spikes as she
came down and now held her firmly, head downward,--a very embarrassing
predicament.

"Put out the light, monsieur, please!"

He gallantly closed the slide and sprang to her assistance.

"Don't be afraid, mademoiselle. Let go,--I'll catch you. Let go!"

"Oh, but I----"

"Let go!"

"Sacre bleu! I can't, monsieur! I'm stuck like a fish on a gaff! My
skirts----"

This startling intelligence, while it relieved his immediate anxiety,
involved the young man in a painful quandary. He dared not call for
help; he was likely to be arrested in any case; he could not go away
and leave the girl dangling there. She was at least three feet beyond
his extreme reach.

"Let's see," he said, hastily grabbing his lantern to make an
examination.

"Oh, put out that light!" exclaimed the girl.

"But, mademoiselle, I can't see----"

"Mon Dieu! monsieur, I don't wish yo